Passers-by alert neighbours after terrace house catches fire
Neighbour did not know house was on fire until...
The stranger was knocking on her front gate and shouting for her family to evacuate their home.
Worried, the woman, who was resting in her living room when the female passer-by came knocking, stepped out of her home with her son and maid.
She was shocked to see a huge fire raging in her neighbour's house two doors away.
"I was scared," said the woman who only wanted to be known as Mrs Wong.
"The fire was huge and it was burning through the roof. I was afraid it would spread to our home."
The fire broke out at about 6.40pm at a terrace house in Ming Teck Park, near Holland Road, on Tuesday.
No one was hurt.
GOOD DEED
Mrs Wong, who is in her 50s, said of the stranger who alerted her to the fire: "I heard that this woman was on the bus when she saw the fire and immediately alighted to warn us residents. She did a good deed."
Mrs Wong, who has lived at Ming Teck Park since 1995, said the owners of the affected house were out at the time.
Her immediate neighbour, a 65-year-old male retiree, was showering when the fire broke out.
He told Shin Min Daily News: "I wouldn't have known what happened had it not been for three passers-by who informed me."
It is believed that an air-conditioning unit on the second-storey had short-circuited, causing the fire, reported the evening daily.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) spokesman said they dispatched a fire engine, two Red Rhinos, two support vehicles and an ambulance to the scene.
When firefighters arrived, they immediately deployed three water jets and contained the fire to the second storey. The fire was put out within half an hour.
Mrs Wong and her neighbours were allowed back into their homes by the police only at about 10pm.
She said the affected house was badly burnt and the fire had damaged the roof. Yesterday, Mrs Wong said the owners of the burnt house had moved out temporarily.
The SCDF is investigating the cause of the fire.
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